Quick & Easy Vegan Cottage Cheese

You asked and I delivered. I recently posted a reader question on my Facebook page “What recipe/product/dish do you wish was vegan?” There were all sorts of requests, some of the requests I had already posted on the blog, some recipes are waiting for you in my cookbook (can’t wait!), but there were some that I didn’t have an answer for…yet. The dish that had the most votes was for vegan cottage cheese. Who knew!?

I had a Google around, and you guys were totally right. I didn’t find any store-bought brands. There were a couple of recipes, but they either used too weird of ingredients, or seemed too complicated for such a simple food. So, I rolled up my sleeves… well I didn’t, I was wearing a tank top… but I got to work either way and taste tested my way to my new Quick & Easy Vegan Cottage Cheese. Boom!

Pret-tay cool right? And it’s totally healthy too!

So what is this madness made out of? Our fine friend tofu! I used a silken tofu for the liquid-y part, which I blended and seasoned just so. (I think I’ve gotten pretty good at recreating dairy flavours if I do say so myself). Then I crumbled in firm tofu for the texture. My parents happened to be stopping by, so I was able to get them to taste test it for me, and they agreed, it is pretty dang close to traditional cottage cheese. Woot woot!

Did anyone else ever used to eat cottage cheese out of a cantaloupe, or was that just a me thing?

So here you go my friends, vegan cottage cheese. I’m always eager to make vegan cooking your favourite thing, so if you have any more recipe requests, drop them in the comments below.

To make Quick & Easy Vegan Cottage Cheese: Add the silken tofu to a blender along with the spices and mix until everything is completely smooth.

Now, this saucy part is slightly more on the creamy-yellow side of the white scale due to the nutritional yeast, but that hardly seems like a big deal to me when the flavour friends are are all there. It does whiten up when the firm tofu is added, but still isn’t bright white. Just a heads up.

Now take the firm tofu and crumble it into the silken tofu mixture.

Stir to combine. See, I told you that was a quick & easy vegan cottage cheese recipe!

Enjoy as is or it should work almost anywhere you would use traditional cottage cheese.

Add the soft or silken tofu to a blender along with the nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and salt. Mix until everything is completely smooth, stopping to scrape the sides as needed.

Pour the soft tofu mixture into a medium bowl. Crumble the firm tofu into the silken tofu mixture. Mix to combine.

Reader Interactions

Comments

I had my doubts about this recipe and I was right. The texture is pretty spot on but the taste is too hard to get past. At first you get the flavors of cottage cheese but the after taste is just raw tofu flavor. I hate throwing food out so I’m going to cook it into my tofu scramble for breakfast in the morning.

My grandmother makes a cinnamon roll that includes cottage cheese in the batter for the rolls. I’m guessing it adds to the moisture and fat content? Do you think this plant based cottage cheese could be a substitute in this baked good?

I changed direction when I was half way through making a batch of this and left out the ACV but added a pinch of turmeric and some kala namak to the silken tofu. After I’d mixed the two tofus together I stirred in a dollop of vegan mayo and some cress sprouts. Egg mayo and cress sandwich filling!! Two of my besties, who are very suspicious of some of my vegan creations said they knew it wouldn’t be proper egg mayo but they couldn’t tell the difference! Winner! :o)

Have you tried culturing the “cottage cheese” instead of using the vinegar and lemon juice? Wouldn’t be as quick and easy, but it might end up with more of a natural cheese flavor. I think I might give this a try. I also think I might start conservative with the amount of nutritional yeast, I’ve found in my vegan cheese making nutritional yeast is definitely helpful, but too much can quickly over power the flavor.

I’m so excited I found this recipe! I’ve been craving one of my old favorite lunches of sauteed cabbage, noodles and cottage cheese. It’s such an old-fart meal but I LOVE it!

One question for you: does it matter if the silken tofu is the soft or firm variety? I know I’ve seen firm silken tofu in some sauce recipes, so I’m guessing that wouldn’t make a difference. But want to check in with the pro first.

What am I doing wrong? I made a double batch and 1 it smells horrid? 2 Definitely doesn’t taste like cottage cheese (I can eat dairy, my son can’t and of course for his ‘snack day’ he gets to bring in cottage cheese…df it is ‍♀️). 3. HELP please

Hi Tammy, it’s difficult to know what went wrong without being in the kitchen with you, but this should have a very mild scent so I’m wondering if your tofu may be off? The rest is really just seasoning so that would be my best guess…

This recipe is amazing! My boyfriend and I have missed cottage cheese since becoming vegan and now I eat this with a peach almost every morning. I was skeptical of the recipe since it’s 90% tofu but it’s amazing!!! Thanks so much for coming up with this!

Hi,been a vegetarian for ore than 30 years, and decided to become a vegan as I cannot stand the thought of eggs. I also suffer with a lot of inflamatio and was told ot to eat potatoes, peppers, egg plants,and tomatos, four inflamation causing foods are a big no no. Also I don’t use sugar or wheat flour. Gluten free, so I make my muffins with rice flour, baking powder, bi-carb, olive oil, soya drink, sultanas, walnuts and dried apricots plus three bananas and.plant based sweetner. So quick and easy It’s quite hard to find a dish that I like apart from salads.I was interested in the spinach canneloni, but it had a tomatoe sauce over it. I will just have to keep searching..Chris.

It may well have to be steaks vs. a loaf, but here’s the general gist of sauerbraten:

Combine vinegar, chopped carrots, pickling spice, black peppercorns, a dash of salt, some sugar if desired, and chopped onions into a pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 15-20 minutes, pour over the “meat” (which is pan-seared “bacon” tightly wrapped over the “beef” roast), then allow to cool, refrigerate and turn every few hours…for 3-5 days…no, I’m not joking. Well, at least that’s what I did when it was actual beef and pork back in the day – very old recipe, and it called for “larding the beef” which was threading a larding needle (they don’t even sell those anymore) with strips of lard and lacing the beef roast – I found that just tying bacon strips was a suitable alternative, but now? Everything is made from veggies, so likely the marinating time wouldn’t be as long – especially if it’s steaks vs. a roast.

I don’t know…going to have to try it out. I tried tempeh…once…didn’t turn out well. Not bad, but also not good! LOL!

I missed the cottage cheese when I went vegan not anymore with this super easy recipe. I double the yeast and put more salt cause I like it salty and it’s perfect for me. I’m eating it right now for breakfast with a banana, so good.

This looks amazingly delicious. I was a huge fan of cottage cheese (Hüttenkäse, as they call in in Switzerland). I will try this tomorrow. I was wondering if your blender was a Vitamix or an other brand. I recently bought a Nutribullet 900 series and I have mixed feelings about it 🙂

I just made this but I think the brand of tofu I used was too strong tasting (365 Organic). The good news is I turned it into tofu scramble (added more nutritional yeast, some black salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and turmeric) and it was my best personal tofu scramble yet! Thanks for the break through! Next time I’ll use a different brand of tofu, can’t hurt when the failure turns out to be a winner anyway!

About nutritional yeast I found I am sensitive to regular bin or bagged FORTIFIED Nutritional Yeast, Made me feel bad, sick to my stomach. I figured it out and it and now only use, Sari Foods 100% Natural Non-Fortified nutritional yeast flakes, Non- synthetic, non-GMO This is not an add, I get nothing from telling you this. Hope this might help someone else.

Hi thanks for another interesting recipe. Jist made it and found the silken tofu had too strong a taste and it was too liquidy. . I decided to drain a lot of it out. I think next time I’ll try a different brand of silken tofu this was Nasoya). I also think I’d press the firm or even extra firm tofu before added it in. I’ did add more “ nooch’ and put it in the fridge. Hoping it looks as good as yours !

I’ve been craving cottage cheese lately and I made your vegan seitan steaks for my family’s Christmas meal and they were fabulous so I know this recipe will be too! I was wondering how long will this last in the fridge once it’s made?

Thank you so much for this recipe! The texture was absolutely perfect and the flavor was good, but there was a definite raw tofu taste on top that was off-putting. I’m thinking about keeping the “whey” based but crumbling a vegan cheese into it rather than using the firm tofu. I’ll let you know how that works out!

Whoa Sam! I saw this when you posted it, thought it was cool and then sort of forgot about it. I read your post today for blue cheese dressing and went out to buy silken tofu immediately so I could make it. I already decided to bring a salad for lunch tomorrow, and was trying to figure out what to do for the dressing, so that post was perfect. I knew I’d have some silken tofu left, and then saw this recipe at the bottom of that post. I made half the recipe so I could try it and finish the silken tofu. It. Is. Delicious! I used to love/hate cottage cheese. The right texture and I loved it, otherwise it made me gag. LOL Loved that I could crumble the tofu to whatever texture I wanted. Another fantastic recipe, thank you!

YES!!! I would love that title! I give your website to everyone that shows any interest in how I eat. I’ve loaned the cookbook out to a lady at work but only because I knew she was responsible and could be trusted to return it to me! If I had to choose just one source for recipes, I’d definitely pick you!

This is one of those times I almost cried over something ridiculous. I had a massive craving for cottage cheese and peaches, and was really down about it until I thought to search for recipes. And here I landed! This is so amazingly delicious. I about ate the entire batch in one sitting because I was so happy to have a cottage cheese alternative. THANK YOU.

I will definitely have to try this. I am pregnant with my third child and, although not vegan by any means (nor am I vegetarian), I seem to have developed a dairy allergy complete with difficulty breathing. A couple months previously, my sister randomly became lactose intolerant. We were talking about what we’re missing – cottage cheese, pizza, quesadillas, enchiladas, etc. I am glad to see this. I usually dislike tofu but I may just see if I can convince my brain it is cottage cheese, not tofu. I enjoy challenges in the kitchen as much as you seem to – I made a GF/eggless/dairy-free (but with goat milk) chocolate cake last year for a friend that called for 4 eggs and aced it in one try! It was fluffy and rich and delicious (and at 7800ft above sea level, no less!). I brainstormed at 5am all the properties of eggs in baking and figured out how to use more leavener, bananas, pumpkin, almond milk coffee and flax seeds to recreate the same thing. Thank you, fellow kitchen scientist, for the new recipe!

It’s mainly just for flavour. Nutritional yeast has a cheesy nutty flavour so I use it a lot in my vegan cheese recipes. You could try upping some of the other flavours to taste to replace it, but the result will be slightly different. Hope that helps!

I’m so excited to try this! I’m vegetarian and normally have regular cottage cheese, but now I think I’m gonna try this recipe out! It’s not only more fresh, and not harming any animals in the process, but it has even better-for-you ingredients!

Great job on this! I used to love this brand Breakstone’s cottage cheese before going dairy-free and this has the same consistency and look. I just had some on rice cakes YumYumYum. Love it when I find a recipe that WORKS! Cottage ‘cheese’ is back in my life 🙂 Oh, just fyi I used Trader Joe’s tofus for it. Not sure the softer one was really ‘silken’, though.

Glad you enjoyed it! Tofu actually isn’t ever considered raw as it is heated in the process of making it. Tofu should be pretty mild in flavour, so I would suggest trying a different brand as they should range a bit in taste and texture. I think cooking it would likely only enhance the flavour, but I could be wrong. Enjoy!

Hi Karen, you can definitely cook with this cottage cheese, but of course, it doesn’t melt, so I am not sure if it will yield the same results in a pudding. You may need to add something like cornstarch to help the dish hold together. Hope that helps!

The one food I really miss since becoming vegan four years ago is cottage cheese. It’s 12:30am, in the middle of a work/school night. Otherwise, I’d be up making this right now. Thank you thank you thank you!

I have been known to add cottage cheese in my melon…and with peaches and pineapple too. But also on toast with salt and pepper.

I’ve been slowly transitioning and finding vegan versions for certain things has helped. My whole house isn’t vegan yet, but they are willing to make the switch. I currently have the dairy version in my fridge. I was just thinking…could there be? Or is it just too gross for vegans to recreate. So I searched it on Pinterest. Sure enough, I found a few results.

This is DELICIOUS!! I’m a cottage cheese fanatic. I mix it with everything from salad to cantaloupe to hummus. It’s the hardest part of trying to transition to a plant based diet. This recipe hit all the texture and flavor components I seek in a good cottage cheese. And it was so easy to make!! Thanks again!

This makes me so happy! I’m brand new–as in I’m weaning out all meat and dairy from the fridge still–and I realized this morning that I eat (albeit lactose-free) cottage cheese for breakfast every morning. I pair it with green olives and sunflower seeds–it’s delicious. It’s very filling, though, so I won’t be able to eat this all in one sitting. How long will/should it last in the refrigerator? ❤️

Another WOW recipe. And I got to try out the new feature to change the measurements based on the number of servings. Super handy! The silken tofu I bought was a 520 g package, so I upped the servings to 6 and, Presto, all the measurements changed! This tastes sooo amazingly like cottage cheese. I always loved my cottage cheese on its own with salt and pepper… and just did the same with this. Delicious! I did add a bit more lemon juice, just my preference… but it might be because I used bottled vs a real lemon. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

I made this the other evening and let it sit overnight in the fridge….my favorite way to have cottage cheese was with tomatoes,salt & pepper. The smell was exactly how I remembered & the taste was spot on. Never thought I’d have cottage cheese again….how wrong I was. Thanks for this fantastically easy & delicious recipe. Thanks, Sam!!!

I haven’t tried cooking with it yet, but for any recipe that called for cottage cheese, this should would work as well. I don’t believe the texture will change much once cooked, maybe just dry out a bit. I think personally I would prefer the ricotta recipes in shells. Hope that helps, Bethery!

Sam, I’m so happy I found your site and all these wonderful recipes! I love everything I’ve tried so far.

This cheese is so easy to make and the texture is just like the dairy version (well, from what I can remember). I used to eat cottage cheese more or less plain, with some pepper on top, so that’s what I did and I wasn’t disappointed!

Ohhhh…. Sam, baby… you just kicked it up to a Whole New Vegan Level! I just assumed my cottage cheese eating days were done… and I was okay with that. But this… oh, wow. Can’t wait to try this. Thank you for always being up to the challenge.

Hahaha! I didn’t think it was possible to make you more pleased than you already are, Srivani! 😉 No days need to be done, they just need to be veganized!! It’s my absolute pleasure, I hope you love it, and if you have any other dishes you thought were long gone, let me know!

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